UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Portrait of the Artist as a Landscape An Inquiry into Self-Reflexion Gamboni, D. Publication date 2002 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Gamboni, D. (2002). Portrait of the Artist as a Landscape: An Inquiry into Self-Reflexion. (Oratiereeks). Vossiuspers UvA. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. 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Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (elec- tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the written permission of both the co- pyright owner and the author of this book. Portrait of the Artist as a Landscape An Inquiry into Self-Reflexion Inaugural lecture Delivered upon the installation as Professor of Art History (Modern and Contemporary Art) at the University of Amsterdam on Saturday 14 December 2002 By Dario Gamboni Mijnheer de Rector Magnificus, leden van het College van Bestuur van de Universiteit van Amsterdam, monsieur le Consul général de Suisse, zeer gewaardeerde collega's en studenten, ladies and gentlemen, chers amis, I. Images and Projection It is a pleasure to speak in the Lutherse Kerk,a hallowed and beautiful place,but it is not an easy task. For one thing, I shall not refer to revealed truth, but propose per- sonal and tentative interpretations. In addition, my comments will be devoted to images. In the Netherlands as in my native country, Switzerland, images were ex- pelled from churches a long time ago, in a dramatic turn that has had long lasting consequences.It comes therefore as no surprise that it is difficult to reintroduce im- ages within these walls. However,this is a Lutheran church, and Luther’s position in this matter was tol- erant. According to him, images were neither good nor bad in themselves, but de- pended on the use to which they were put, on the words employed to interpret them.There is,on the predella of the main altar of the parish church of Wittenberg, an image of Luther preaching, painted in 1539-47 by Hans Cranach’s studio. Luther is pointing with his hand to Christ on the cross, a figure that does not represent a crucifix but a mental image appearing to his audience as a result of the sermon. Erhard Schön, a pupil of Dürer, visualized Luther’s point of view on images in a pamphlet of c. 1530 (ill. 1). It shows on the left iconoclasts removing altarpieces and statues from a church to store them away or burn them. In a text accompanying the engraving, the images complain that they are being destroyed by the very same men whom had turned them into idols in the first place, and who continue to sacri- 5 DARIO GAMBONI Ill. 1: Erhard Schön, Complaint of the Poor Persecuted Idols and Liturgical Images..., c. 1530, woodcut, 12.9 x 35 cm. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg fice to more powerful idols such as money,food, and lechery.We see indeed, in the upper right corner,a rich man surrounded by a bag full of coins, two women, and a waiter carrying wine.The object protruding from his eye alludes to the Biblical par- able: he sees a mote in his neighbour’s eye but not the beam in his own. In other words, he claims to detect a vice that is really his own, just as the iconoclasts attrib- ute their own idolatry to the images. Tofree images from the accusation of fostering idolatry,a greater control had to be exerted upon them as well as upon the imagination. When in 1628 an anony- mous print advertised the images of Roman Catholic priests miraculously discov- ered in the core of an apple tree near Haarlem,Pieter Saenredam replied by demon- strating that these were only chance images, due to a mistake in interpretation.1 He made this point by giving a more accurate rendering of the exact shapes of the holes in the wood, taking advantage of the move toward a greater objectivity in the depic- tion of the exterior world typical of Dutch post-Reformation art. The time of an- thropomorphic interpretations of nature, such as Joos de Momper’s paintings of the four seasons,was over.In 1678,Samuel van Hoogstraeten rejected in his Introduction to the Art of Painting the depiction of cloud images in favour of exact observation and rendering: ‘One must also be zealous in observing properly the elegant grace of the clouds, and how their scudding and form are in a certain proportion; for the artist’s eye must also recognize things in their causes, and must be free of the stupid delu- sions of the common people; as this verse puts it: It also happens, when the clouds 6 PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A LANDSCAPE gather or disperse, that the foolish take fright at images that they see in the sky as signs of what is to happen. Undoubtedly, much that is wonderful may be perceived in the welkin, whether the sky is stormy or whether the clouds tear apart, but to make an animal or ship from them is a stupid delusion of the rabble, who, ignorant of our art, are deceived by illusions; a painter has an eye better adapted for this; he knows both colour and outline, as well as the light, and judges with more accurate vision.’2 The idea that works of art are transparent windows opening on the world has come since under heavy criticism. The idea that they are screens onto which we project figures and meanings, on the other hand, has become ever more wide- spread. It was expressed for instance in Marcel Duchamp’s dictum that ‘it is the on- lookers who make the pictures’.3 The German art historian Werner Hofmann has thus argued that it is Luther who laid the foundation for the modern aesthetics of the beholder.4 But are works of art really passive screens of projection? Or do they trigger a dialogue with the onlooker, the outcome of which depends on both? II. Hidden and Potential Images This is a question I want to discuss by using an example that originates chronologi- cally from the middle of the nieuwste tijd, the period extending from the late eigh- teenth century to the present to the study of which my chair is devoted. It is a mid- dle-sized oil painting (ill. 2) known under two titles, Marine avec vache (‘Seascape with Cow’) and Au-dessus du gouffre (‘Above the Abyss’).5 It was painted by Paul Gauguin in Britanny,near Le Pouldu,in the late summer or early autumn of 1888. The first impression made by this picture is puzzling.It is only progressively and tentatively that one identifies the elements of representation. The outcome of this process suggests that one stands at the edge of a cliff, looking down toward the sea. Immediately below,there is a cow on the grass; to the left a big outcropping of rock; at the top a ship; at the right another rock, with foaming water between the two. To the right and in the lower right corner stand two orange areas, which may be inter- preted as haystacks. This identification or ‘recognition’ is difficult and the result is not quite satisfactory,as if things were still ‘moving’ or hesitating. This must corre- spond to an intention on the part of the artist. It results from the unusual point of view,the manipulation of perspective, and the treatment of colour and light. Going 7 DARIO GAMBONI Ill. 2: Paul Gauguin, Seascape with Cow or Above the Abyss, 1888, oil on canvas, 72.5 x 61 cm. Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris from the bottom of the canvas to its top, it is as if one was shifting from an almost vertical gaze to an almost horizontal one. There is no atmospheric perspective and the various areas are treated independently, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. A possible explanation for this treatment of the landscape is stylistic. Gauguin gives us here his version of Cloisonnism, a style in which areas of bright colour are enclosed in the manner of stained glass or cloisonné enamels.He downplays the role of outlines but emphasizes the flatness of the surface. Seen in this way, Above the Abyss is an early example of the ‘decorative’ understanding of painting and a step toward abstraction.